Newsletter Issue #877: What You Won’t Learn From Apple About the iPhone 7

Every single year, there has been one constant about the iPhone. After the three-day launch weekend, in which customers actually receive them, Apple has revealed sales figures. Year after year, those numbers have increased, thus breaking records. But it wasn’t always so simple. In 2013, when Apple announced record sales for the iPhone 5s, moving a record five million units just wasn’t enough, because some tech pundits and industry analysts said it must be 10 million or bust. Ignored was the fact that Apple claimed more product could have been sold if they had enough stock on hand.

No matter that neither Samsung — or any other handset maker — ever reported that many sales for flagship smartphones in so short a time. Apple was in danger of losing its luster because it failed to achieve the unrealistic goals set for them by third parties. Indeed, the iPhone 5s was long regarded as a failure even though sales were higher than those of the previous year. But launch weekend results and misleading reports from the supply chain about reduced orders, caused Apple’s stock price to dip and reduce the company’s market cap by billions of dollars, at least until the market regained its senses.

In 2015, Apple reported sales of 13 million on launch weekend. But the luster of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus dimmed this year as sales dropped for the very first time in the product’s history. So expectations for the iPhone 7’s launch weekend were also diminished.